The packaging is the biggest market for additives.

The output of plastic packaging depends strongly on the population, people’s average income, and expenditure.

We need plastic packaging mostly for the food and beverage industry. Therefore, the increase in the population and the average income will have a positive effect on the demands of plastic packaging as well as additives.

Packaging industry

Foreign market

Asia has the rapid growth in the consumption of plastic packaging.

The first reason is that Asia has the highest and most developing population rate. Researchers forecast that Asia is going to reach 4,3 billion people in 2022. Moreover, the population growth rate and GDP growth rate are “gold rate” and desirable.

Besides, Europe and North America consume plastic packaging a lot. While those 2 regions have a quite low population density, they have a good source of income and their consumption habits of plastic packaging were established a long time ago (since 1950).

Flexible packaging makes up 59% of the total consumption of plastic packaging.

Flexible packaging is made from PE and PP resins by blow molding. The consumption of flexible packaging and bottle packaging is forecasted to decrease a little bit due to the increase in people’s awareness of the environment.

Food packaging and bottle packaging made up for 93% in 2,400 billion of packaging products in 2018. The demand for food packaging will reach 1,788 billion products in 2022.

Asia is the main and most potential market for the plastic packaging industry.

As I said before, Asia has the gold growth rate of population and average income.

Another reason is that many developed countries are moving towards “green life”, minimizing the use of single-use plastic products.

Việt Nam

The development in the non-alcohol beverage market will drive the plastic packing industry in a new chapter.

The demand for plastic packaging products mainly depends on the growth of food production, the beverage industry, and household income and expenditure in general.

According to BMI, household spending will be about VND 3.3 million billion in 2019 VND and 4.7 million billion VND in 2022. Of which, spending on food and non-alcoholic beverages will still account for a large proportion, about 20% of total household expenditure.

The growth of food and non-alcoholic beverages is expected to grow by 11.8% and 12% per year, respectively, from 2019 to 2022. This is the main driving force for the growth of food processing and beverage industries.

Main Additives used

Materials/Resins

The 5 most popular additives used in the packaging industry are anti-blocking and slip agents, anti-fogging agents, the usual heat and light stabilizers, and pigments.

Oxygen scavengers are also getting popular in food packaging.

PE is the dominant packaging polymer, it is used in very high-volume shopping bags, rubbish sacks, and food packaging. HDPE is the most essential, especially in Europe.

PP is used more in the specialized role of industrial goods.

Polyethylene naphthenate is being promoted in the form of thin, flexible film with good barrier properties.

Specific additives for packaging industries

Social habits change, people’s expenditure habits change. The increasing popularity of hanging out with premade meals and microwaveable containers leads to a remarkable increase in using food packaging; therefore, increasing the use of additives.

The technology to premade and packaged food requires special additives.

Plastic bottles and containers have undergone considerable changes in recent years due to increased interest in barrier layers.

Consumers also like bottles to have a wide mouth. PVC has been defeated as a bottle material by PET.

Adding an impact modifier creates a favorable condition for PET to gain competitive advantages over polycarbonate in manufacturing larger bottle sizes.

Moreover, PE clarifying additives allows you to produce cheaper and cleaner packaging.

Anti-fogging agents are used in flexible PVC food wrapping. UV absorbers used in transparent bottles to protect the contents and the polymer.

People are considering to stop using single-use plastic in many packaging applications. Due to litter issues, the fast-food industry is criticized a lot. Several countries have banned single-trip shopping bags.

Non-woven and multi-trip packages are trendy.

Flame retardants are in a unique position among plastics additives in that they are both created by regulations and yet are threatened by other regulations. They are expensive and lower the physical properties of the plastics in which they are employed.

On the other hand, environmental and toxicity concerns now have regulators looking at the important halogenated and antimony-based synergist flame retardants that have been developed over the years. Any regulations which limit the use of such products will again change the industry and force producers to develop a new generation of products.

Flame retardant overview

Flame-retardant additives for plastics are essential safety materials. The transportation, building, appliance, and electronic industries use flame retardants in plastics to prevent human injury or death and to protect property from fire damage.

Fundamentally, flame retardants reduce the ease of ignition smoke generation and the rate of burn of plastics. Flame retardants can be organic or inorganic in composition and typically contain either bromine, chlorine, phosphorus, antimony, or aluminum materials.

The products can be further classified as being reactive or additive. Reactive flame retardants chemically bind with the host resin. Additive types are physically mixed with a resin and do not chemically bind with the polymer.

Flame retardants are used at loading levels from a few percents to more than 60% of the total weight of a treated resin. They typically degrade the inherent physical properties of the polymer, some types significantly more than others.

Resin formulators and compounders must select a flame retardant that is both physically and economically suitable for specific resin systems and the intended applications.

It is common to formulate resins with multiple flame-retardant types, typically a primary flame retardant plus a synergist such as antimony oxide, to enhance overall flame-retardant efficiency at the lowest cost. Several hundred different flame-retardant systems are used by the plastics industry because of these formulation practices.

Driving forces

In addition to cost and performance demands, the plastics market for flame retardants is driven by a number of competing forces ranging from fire standard legislation and toxicity regulations to price situations, performance, and other market factors.

These combined factors have resulted recently in significant shifts in demand for the major types of flame retardants.

Further, large numbers of new flame retardants have emerged, designed for both traditional and specialty niche markets.

Recent acquisitions, joint ventures, and alliances by flame- retardant producers have also created constant change in this market. The largest area of activity is in non-halogenated flame retardants because of environmental concerns associated with the halogen-based products.

Down the road, the need and the market exist for non-halogenated approaches to the flame retarding of plastics. All the major flame retardant companies, including those making halogenated types, are working in the area.

Viable, non-halogenated flame-retardant products do exist, but customers are reluctant to sacrifice the cost/performance advantage of brominated products. Organic phosphate, inorganic phosphorus, melamine salts, and inorganic metal hydrate approaches seem to be the major directions being followed to develop non-halogenated alternatives.

Colorants are one of the most optimal methods to upgrade and strengthen your products’ competitiveness. Since there are various types of colorants regarding forms and price, it’s now easier than ever for manufacturers to equip themselves with a suitable coloring method. However simple it might seem, effectively applying colorants in injection moulding requires a high level of attention rather than just adding one more component as they may negatively affect end-products in case of incorrect use.

1. Common problems when adding colorants in plastic injection moulding

The impact of colorants on injection molded plastic items is complex. Depending on several variations, they can affect end-products in different ways. Here are top common problems encountered by injection moulding manufacturers during the colorant incorporating process.

Physical properties deterioration

Very often, adding colorants into plastic injection moulded items can weaken mechanical properties of end-products. This is mainly caused by the incompatibility between the colorants and original resin since most polymers are unlikely to mix well with other polymers, which leads to the degradation of the original properties, like impact resistance.

Discoloration

Discoloration (also known as color streaking) in injection molding occurs when a molded part is in a different color than intended. This part defect can arise from several sources, such as overheating, contamination, or manufacturing error.

In case discoloration arising from injection molding machines, the simplest cause can be the contamination of equipment which hasn’t been properly cleaned, resulting in dust-contaminated resin.

Meanwhile, discoloration arising from the mold has to do with temperature regulation. If a mold is hot, it compacts the plastic molecules before they solidify. This causes the part to be denser, resulting in a darker color in some areas. Whereas, if there is excessive cooling in one area, the material can become lighter in color.

Sometimes, discoloration can be a result of the raw materials. Mixing different grades of the same material or different flow values of the same material is the main cause of this problem. Other sources may include:

• Contamination: If the resin is contaminated, whether from dust or dirt regrind – the plastic will undergo discoloration according to the type of contaminant.
• Moisture: Excessive moisture or organic compounds can not only cause discoloration, but also result in pockets of air and plastic’s mechanical degradation.
• Plastic additives: The interaction between polymer and colorant can also be affected by other additives which are added during the injection moulding process.

Different shades of colors under the same processing conditions

This is often caused by the injection molding machine. Different injection molding machines have different mechanical conditions due to different manufacturing, use time or maintenance conditions, especially the distinction in the degree of close contact between the heating element and the barrel, which makes the dispersion state of the color masterbatch in the barrel different.

Poor dispersion

The performance of the colorant is directly related to the color quality of the molded part. If the dispersibility, thermal stability and particle morphology of the colorant can’t meet the process requirements, it will be impossible to be well-dispersed on the product’s surface.

2. Considered factors to effectively apply colorants in plastic injection moulding

So the question is, how to prevent these problems and effectively apply colorants in your injection moulding products? Here are some key factors that manufacturers need to consider for better use of colorants.

Chemical compatibility

The first item to be considered is the compatibility between the chemistry of the polymer and the chemistry of the colorant. As mentioned above, most polymers tend to conflict with the others due to the difference in their chemistry. Hence, the use of incompatible colorants can break down the chemistry of the polymer and weaken its original properties, like impact-resistance.

Processing temperature

The next step to effectively apply colorants in the injection moulding is to ensure your colorants have a good thermal stability. As injection moulding is a high-thermal manufacturing process, it is a prerequisite for a colorant to be capable of tolerating the high temperature at which the polymer formulation is going to be processed. In fact, the high heat used in injection molding can also influence the degree to which the colorant affects the polymer. And most surprisingly, a certain colorant may affect one polymer differently than it does another based on temperature, despite being chemically compatible.

The amount of colorants added

In order to effectively apply colorants in injection moulding, a useful tip is to well control the amount of incorporated colorants. Normally, it is totally harmless to add 1-2% of a colorant to the resin, as long as the compatibility issues mentioned above don’t come into play. However, in some specific cases, there is a certain limit on how much colorants should be added without negatively affecting the original resin. Any amounts of the colorant above that level should be generally avoided to guarantee that there is no loss in the properties of the base polymer.

Types of additives 

Despite being used with a very tiny amount, additives have a great impact on the interaction between a polymer and a colorant. For example, a polycarbonate, which is normally unaffected by a colorant, may have a different reaction to it when a flame retardant is added. Hence, it is worth considering carefully in order to effectively apply colorants in your plastic products.

Coloring methods

There are several methods of coloring plastics, including color masterbatch, compounding, surface coating and dry blending. They each have their advantages and disadvantages and vary in cost, color consistency and other factors. The coloring method used can influence the mechanical properties of the plastic. For example, in the masterbatch method, pellets of natural color are blended with a “masterbatch” of pellets with a high pigment content. Since most polymers do not tend to mix well with other polymers, care must be taken to ensure material compatibility, or the blend can cause problems.

To achieve the best result, manufacturers need to choose the most appropriate coloring method, which fits your requirements both in terms of economy and efficiency.

About thermoforming 

Before getting to know the application of filler masterbatch in thermoforming, let’s take a brief look on its manufacturing. Generally, thermoforming process involves 4 stages:

• First, a sheet of thermoplastic is heated until it becomes pliable and moldable.
• The second stage is the vacuum forming process. In which, the plastic is stretched over a single male mold, and the air is vacuumed out from underneath the mold.
• Subsequently, the heated plastic is placed between male and female molds, which are then pressed against the plastic sheet using compressed air at a pressure that ranges from 20 to 100 psi.
• After that, steam or wind is pumped into the mould to cool the plastic part while keeping it in shape.
• Finally, the moulded plastic part is separated from the mold by spraying air

Due to its simple technology and high productivity, thermoforming is favorable over other types of molding. Some of these benefits include:

• Cost at quantity: Thermoforming is the most optimal choice when it comes to orders in bulk as it allows processing a large quantity at a relatively reasonable price.
• Efficiency: Thermoforming is able to create several finished parts from the same material.
• Lower cost design changes: Thermoforming allows for the detection of possible design and fit issues before it is too late.

Thanks to these outstanding benefits, thermoforming is preferred in many fields such as household items production, medical packaging, trays,…

Advantages of using filler masterbatch in thermoforming

As other plastic manufacturing methods, thermoforming is compatible with most standard resins such as ABS, HDPE, HIPS, PC, PET, PVC,… However, due to the increasing demands for a cost-effective material associated with rising concerns about the global fossil resins market uncertainties, filler masterbatch has come into use as an optimal material solution.

Filler masterbatch (also known as calcium carbonate filler) is composed of three main ingredients including CaCO3 powder, virgin resins and specific additives (normally dispersant and processing aid). The use of filler masterbatch in thermoforming offers end-products several advantages.

• Cost reduction: Containing CaCO3 powder, which is a reasonable substance, calcium carbonate filler partly replaces virgin resins as well as helping manufacturers lessen the dependence on fossil plastic, thus minimizing the negative impacts of the global market on the entrepreneurs.
• Properties enhancement: By adding filler masterbatch in thermoforming, end-products are equipped with better mechanical properties such as tear resistance, anti-friction and anti-slipping property, dimensional stability, rigidity, impact strength and printability. This results in greater performance and aesthetic appearance of end-products.

• Productivity improvement: CaCO3, the main component of filler masterbatch, is a good thermal conductive. Hence, the incorporation of filler masterbatch in thermoforming reduces processing temperature and shortens the products cycle, thus saving energy consumption as well as increasing productivity.
• Environmental friendliness: Last but not least, an outstanding advantage of calcium carbonate filler is its environmental harmlessness. Compared to fossil resin, which releases a great amount of carbon footprint during its manufacturing process, the production of filler masterbatch is far more environmentally friendly. Also, it is an ideal alternative to non-renewable materials, thus opening up sustainable development for thermoforming manufacturers.

Common applications of filler masterbatch in thermoforming

Refrigerator liners

Refrigerator liners are one of the most common applications of calcium carbonate filler. By introducing filler to the processing, the overall performance of end-products can be lifted significantly. According to a study conducted by Heritage Plastics, with a loading of 18%, calcium carbonate filler can improve several key properties including rigidity, impact strength, and dimensional stability. Thus, it can exactly meet all strict technical requirements of manufacturers.

Food trays, pots, and covers

The addition of filler masterbatch in thermoforming applications remarkably enhances productivity by allowing the plastic to heat up and cool down faster. Due to the great thermal ability of CaCO3, plastic can be quickly melted in the extruder as well as faster cooled on calendar rolls. This results in less shrinkage and warping, which provides end-products with exact shape as required.

Transit trays, plastic pallets

The cost effectiveness of filler masterbatch is specifically preferable in thermoforming applications like transit trays and plastic pallets, which have simple design and large quantities. By embedding filler masterbatch, manufacturers can partly replace virgin resins, thus decreasing the material cost.

Building applications

Building trade is one of the largest contributors to the thermoforming products consumption. Plastic thermoforming with HIPs (High Impact Polystyrene) is widely used in the building trade from roof vents to underfloor heating systems, ducting, fascia panels, bath and shower rooms. Accordingly, filler masterbatch is also a vital part of these applications, which not only reduces material cost, but also considerably boosts efficiency.

Besides, the use of filler masterbatch in thermoforming also includes other applications such as disposable cups and plates, household items, plant pots and seeding trays,… Depending on each product’s requirements, the components and loading rate of the filler masterbatch will be determined, thus making it exactly match with end-products.

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There is no denying that plastic filler materials are one of the most essential factors in retaining cost-effectiveness for plastic firms. Let’s take a look at 4 most common plastic filler materials in the plastic industry to better acknowledge the benefits of these magical materials.

Plastic filler materials are known as one of the key factors leading to the revolution of the plastic industry. The volume of plastic filler consumption reached approximately 33 billion tons in 2016. Countries which record the largest number of plastic beads materials exported include Asian countries such as China, Japan, Korea,…, followed by North America and Europe.

The use of plastic filler materials have brought various benefits to plastic firms, in which the most important is cost reduction and mechanical properties enhancement.

1. What are plastic filler materials?

For a long time, primary plastic has been seen as the only way for many manufacturers who wish to manufacture plastic products. At that time, plastic production was extremely unstable and risky due to the uncertainty of oil, which is the main source of all types of plastic worldwide. As such, for a large number of companies, especially those who depend completely on foreign market, plastic production has never been an easy task, as they are usually put into a struggling situation when primary plastic’s price gets higher or delivery is late as a consequence of the unexpected.

That’s the reason why the plastic filler materials are born. Technically, they are particles added to plastic production to cut cost as well as supporting in enhancing some properties of end-products. Plastic filler materials are divided into two groups:

• The inorganic (also known as mineral) fillers such as calcium carbonate (limestone), magnesium silicates (talc), calcium sulfate, mica, calcium silicate, barium sulfate and kaolin (China clay).
• The organic plastic fillers such as tree bark flour, nut flours, chicken feathers, and rice hulls.

Normally, the inorganic filler materials are more prefered in industrial production as their simple molecular composition makes them more easily to be processed. Therefore, in this article, we would like to go deeply into the inorganic ones.

2. The most commonly used plastic filler materials

As mentioned, there is a wide variety of plastic filler materials and their uses completely depend on the characteristics of end-products as well as the standard requirements. These listed below are the top 4 most widely used in the plastic industry.

Calcium carbonate (CaCO3)

Calcium carbonate is a substance which is most commonly found in the form of rocks or limestone. It is also the main component of eggshells, snail shells, seashells and pearls. In the plastic industry, calcium carbonate is also widely used as one of the plastic filler materials. It improves mechanical properties (tensile strength and elongation) and electrical properties (volume resistivity) when being added to PVC. Polypropylene is another resin that uses calcium carbonate at the proportion of 20 – 40% as it strengthens the rigidity – an important requirement when plastic is exposed to high temperature. Most importantly, this matter helps significantly decrease the overall production cost, which often accounts for up to 60% of product’s price. Compared to primary plastic, CaCO3 is more reasonable and less fluctuating, thus degrading the uncertainty for the business.

Magnesium silicates (talc)

Talc is a clay mineral, composed of hydrated magnesium silicate and made of three main components including magie, silic and oxi. In nature, talc is a common metamorphic mineral in metamorphic belts that contain ultramafic rocks, such as soapstone (a high-talc rock), and within whiteschist and blueschist metamorphic terranes. It is widely used in the plastic industry as one of the effective plastic filler materials to enhance durability, thermal resistance, anti UV and anti aging ability. The combination between talc and plastic resins creates talc filler masterbatch, which is widely prefered thanks to its mechanical properties enhancement and processability as it requires no changes in the manufacturing equipment, thus saving a large amount of expense for plastic firms.

Besides, talc can also be added into compounds (tailor-made materials to serve for a specific plastic product) to enhance end-products properties such as rigidity, modulus bending, flexural strength as well as decreasing the level of shrinkage, warping and improving the conductivity and surface rigidity.

Sodium sulfate (NaSO4)

Sodium sulfate is another well-known substance which is widely used as a plastic filler. Sodium sulfate’s fomular is NaSO4 and mostly found in the form of decahydrate (known as mirabilite mineral or Glauber’s salt). NaSO4 is commonly known for its high solubility in water and it rises more than tenfold between 0 °C to 32.384 °C. One outstanding advantage of sodium sulfate is its transparency (more clear than calcium carbonate) and its reasonable price (cheaper than barium sulfate). Therefore, sodium sulfate is widely used as one of the plastic filler materials.

The use of sodium sulfate significantly improves the transparency and glossiness of plastic products. Also, it reinforces end-products mechanical properties with excellent dispersion, high tenacity and strong stability. Furthermore, sodium sulfate is highly recommended thanks to its eco-friendly components, which barely pose any threats on our environment.

Barium sulfate (BaSO4)

Barium sulfate is an inorganic compound that is odorless and insoluble in water. It is commonly used as a plastic filler to increase the density of the polymer in vibrational mass damping applications. In polypropylene and polystyrene plastics, it is commonly used as a filler with a proportion of 70%.

However, one disadvantage of barium sulfate is the relatively high price compared to other plastic filler materials. The more transparency required, the larger proportion of BaSO4 needed, thus costing plastic firms a greater amount of production expense. That more or less raises hesitation from customers’ view as they are looking for an alternative solution for primary plastic to address the cost’s problem, not to get another burden.

 3. Which plastic filler materials to choose?

As such, there is a large number of plastic filler material for plastic firms to use. However, the challenging part is how to choose a suitable one for your companies. These criteria below may simplify your decision making process:

What are your end-products? This should be the first priority for any firms who wish for a plastic filler. What are your products used for? What are their standard requirements? Which mechanical properties do you expect? That information definitely gives you a clue on which should be the right plastic filler material.

Are you on a budget? Of course, you are searching for plastic fillers with a view to saving on production cost. However, even the price of plastic fillers varies from the lowest like calcium carbonate to the highest like barium sulfate. Therefore, positioning a range of acceptable prices is necessary.

Quality and reliability should never be underestimated. A famous manufacturer who owns a good reputation is undoubtedly more trustworthy than an unknown one, especially those experienced in the market can give you valuable advices on appropriate products.

Blowing film is one of the most popular methods of film manufacture. However, it’s not an easy mission to choose the right blowing film resin because each product requires specific properties, which leads to different input materials. So how exactly do we find the correct ones? Let’s hammer out in this article!

1. What is blowing film?

Blowing film (also known as the Tubular film) is one of the most common methods of film manufacture. To initiate the process, materials mixture is entered into the extruder through a hopper. After being melted, it goes through an annular slit die and is formed as a thin tube. The tube is then cooled by the air ring and continues moving upwards until it passes through nip rolls, where it is flattened. This lay-flat tube is then taken back down via more rollers. The edges of the lay-flat are slit off to produce two flat film sheets and wound up onto reels.

2. What is blowing film technology used for?

Blowing film is widely used in many applications to create various products, ranging from simple monolayer films for bags to very complex multilayer structures used in food packaging. Some products of this process include:

• Industrial films and bags
• Agricultural and construction films
• Barrier films
• Stretch films
• PVC cling films
• Laminating films
• Can liners
• High barrier small tube systems.

3. Why need to consider blowing film resin ?

As mentioned above, there are many types of films which are the outputs of the blowing film process. However, each product has some particular properties regarding adhesion, stiffness, toughness, formability, thickness,…thus requiring mindful choices of input resins to ensure that end products can meet all standard requirements.

Besides, the choice of resins is also about the production cost problem as raw material cost accounts for up to 80% of the overall cost of making film. Therefore, making the right decision on the input resins also helps plastic manufacturers save a large amount of expense.

4. Most common blowing film resin

Polyethylene (PE)

All types of PE are chemically identical: a wide range of processing and product properties results from different forms of branching, crystallinity levels and densities.

• PE is the basis of most co extruded blown film structures
• Used in sealant layers and in-forming film bulk
• Often blended together to optimize property profiles, processability and cost
• Excellent chemical resistance

High-density PE (HDPE)

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